The “problem of the artist” in literary terminology is in the form of a struggle between order and creativity, between reason
and sensuality in the artist. On one hand, reason keeps in tact the sensibility fo the artist’s life and on the other hand, sensuality provides the
inspiration for creativity in the artist. This struggle or problem, the Apollo (reason) vs the Dionysis (wine and sensuality) has always been present but it was particularly strong in late 19th and early 20th century Europe. German literature was particularly steeped in the thesis/anti-thesis didactic.
In Thomas Mann’s
Death in Venice, the protagonist, Gustav Aschenbach is an aging but respected writer who has lost his youth and vitality and who needs inspiration to write again. In the beginning of the story, Aschenbach sees a strange man, a sort of specter, appear in a mortuary chapel. He has no idea where the man came from, for he did not see him enter. The man’s appearance is unusual, a foreigner it seems. Mann uses the figure of this unknown man symbolically, as a representation of death to Aschenbach. This situation could also be a kind of foreshadowing in the story. As he moves from the safety of his home in Germany to romantic Italy, his creativity and inspiration become sharpened but his situation becomes dangerous. Aschenbach is on the “problem of the artist” pendulum for he is moving from far right, to center, to far left.
Aschenbach meets a young boy, falls in love with him and stays in Venice, even when cholera is present in Venice. The boy is beautiful, like a Norse god and Aschenbach is enthralled by him. This love is like a rose, beautiful but deadly with thorns that can injure. The figure of Aschenbach represents German Sensibility while the boy represents the Beautiful but the forbidden. Aschenbach knows that he is endangering himself by staying in the city, but he cannot seem to break away from his obsession with the boy. His infatuation and pursuit of the boy represents his attempt to gain back his own youth and physical strength and to cheat death; hence, to achieve
immortality.
Mann’s has a solution for the “problem of the artist” situation; it is wrapped up in his resolution for his protagonist in the denouement of the story: death by cholera. Mann skillfully and effectively reveals the consequence of an unwise decision to give away reason. For Aschenbach, it is his death in the tragic end of
Death in Venice.